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Corruption in China
ChinaPolitics

China’s top medical bosses taken to task after doctor abandons surgery to defend mistress

People’s Daily welcomes move months after scandal sparked public outrage and doubts about hospital management and professional ethics

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The China-Japan Friendship Hospital in Beijing is among top institutions that have been ordered to rectify their practices. The doctor at the centre of the scandal was a top surgeon at this hospital. Photo: Handout
He Huifengin Guangdong
Several top university and hospital administrators in China have been held accountable after a noted thoracic surgeon left an anaesthetised patient for over half an hour to confront a nurse in defence of his mistress, a junior doctor.
The punishments respond to widespread public anger over the scandal, which broke in April, as well as questions about hospital management, professional ethics, and accountability within China’s medical institutions.

A total of 19 officials from five prestigious institutions had been disciplined, the National Health Commission (NHC) said in a statement on Friday. The measures included severe warnings from the ruling Communist Party, disciplinary penalties, demotions and dismissals, it said.

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Party mouthpiece People’s Daily welcomed the move, with a commentary published on Saturday calling the NHC’s handling of the matter “authoritative and serious”.

The investigation and disciplinary measures helped to restore public confidence in the healthcare sector and medical practitioners, it added.

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Institutions censured include the China-Japan Friendship Hospital, Peking Union Medical College (PUMC), Peking Union Medical College Hospital and the University of Science and Technology Beijing (USTB), which have been ordered to rectify their practices.

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